Legoland starts hiring workers

Thursday

The theme park began accepting applications Wednesday for front-line positions in preparation for the attraction's opening Oct. 15. Some 800 employees will be hired for jobs in operations, food service and retail, park officials said Wednesday.

By late Wednesday afternoon, more than 700 people had applied, said Teresa Vaughn, Legoland Florida's director of human resources.

The jobs range from ride operators for the Dragon Coaster to line cooks creating Granny's Apple Fries. Applications are being accepted only online at www.LEGOLAND.com/jobs.

"I've been waiting for this day, as you can imagine, since the day I started three months ago," Vaughn said. "We're very excited about hiring some great people."

Legoland Florida occupies the site of the former Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven. The theme park will have more than 50 rides, shows and attractions, all geared toward children ages 2 through 12 and their parents. Legoland Florida, the fifth such attraction in the world, will have about 1,000 employees at its opening, park officials said.

The pay advertised for most of those associate jobs is $7.75 an hour, with food and beverage associate listed at $8 an hour. Florida's minimum wage is $7.31 an hour.

Most of the jobs are seasonal and take effect in late August or September, Vaughn said.

Legoland Florida will begin contacting applicants the week of June 13, Vaughn said, though some candidates might not be called for interviews until later this summer. Vaughn said all who apply online will receive an automated reply, and only those Legoland considers promising candidates will receive further contact.

Vaughn said the park prefers to reach applicants by email but will make phone calls to promising candidates who lack email addresses. She said the screening process will focus largely on the ability to work around children and to be part of a team.

All potential hires must pass a full background check and a drug screen, Vaughn said. After a first interview, job candidates will be brought in for a two-hour "team assessment" tryout session.

Legoland calls its employees "model citizens" in reference to models made from Lego bricks but also as a way of stressing its expectation of faultless behavior.

Vaughn said all of the front-line jobs will begin as seasonal positions, which do not receive a benefits package. After the Christmas season, she said, the park will begin converting some seasonal positions into regular full- and part-time jobs. The full-time jobs do carry a full benefits package.

Vaughn said the goal is to hire the entire staff by mid-September.

Legoland Florida currently has 100 employees, Vaughn said. The jobs listed Wednesday on the Legoland site included several full-time professional positions requiring college degrees and previous experience, such as entertainment supervisor and purchasing coordinator.

All of the jobs are also posted on the websites for Polk Works and Employ Florida, a state agency.

Those without computers may apply online at the Polk Works One-Stop Career Centers in Lakeland and Winter Haven or on public computers at local libraries.

Though Wednesday's announcement was no surprise, the beginning of full-scale hiring for the park comes as welcome news in Polk County, where unemployment remains high.

"The unemployment rate for this past April did drop to 10.8 (percent), which is good, but we definitely want it to continue to decrease," said Teresa Murvin, a spokeswoman for Polk Works. "So the fact that Legoland is opening up 800 positions is definitely something we're excited about."

Murvin said she expects the opening of Legoland Florida to spur the creation of other tourism-related jobs in Polk County.

With an expected 1,000 employees, Legoland will rank among Polk County's top 15 employers, according to figures from the Central Florida Development Council. By comparison, Lakeland's Watson Clinic employs about 1,500 people.

news@newschief.com

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